Winners of 2013 AMI Scholarship program announced

TORONTO, Oct. 8, 2013 /CNW/ - Accessible Media Inc. (AMI) announced today the winners of its 2013 AMI Scholarship program. The program, which launched in 2012, is open to Canadian students planning to enroll or continuing to be enrolled in a diploma or degree program at a Canadian post-secondary school. Two scholarships valued at $5,000 are awarded annually, one of which is reserved for a student with a permanent disability. To be considered for this scholarship, each student is required to submit a 500-word mandatory essay on a topic related to accessibility. This year's topic focused on the importance of making mass media accessible to persons with disabilities.

"The results of the 2013 AMI Scholarship program exceeded our expectations", explained Peter Burke, AMI Vice-President of Marketing and Communications. "We saw an increase of more than 140% in the total number of entries as compared to last year and the thought and creativity that went into the essays was truly impressive."

The winners of the 2013 AMI Scholarship program are Gillian Murch of Orillia, Ontario and RuiLin Guo of Barrie, Ontario. Gillian, who has low vision, is working towards her Honours Bachelor of Commerce, Business Administration at Lakehead University, Orillia campus and RuiLin attends the University of Western Ontario where she is pursuing her Honours Degree in Business Administration.

"The purpose of launching the program was to raise awareness of the challenges that people with disabilities face on a regular basis where accessing media is concerned," continued Peter. "These are day-to-day activities that most of us take for granted and we're so pleased that our winners truly grasped the subject matter and were able to articulate what that meant to them on a very personal level."

The 2014 AMI Scholarship program will launch April 1, 2014 and potential applicants are encouraged to visit www.ami.ca at that time for complete details.

For further information on AMI and its programs and initiatives, please visit www.ami.ca.

About Accessible Media Inc. 
Accessible Media Inc. (AMI) is a not-for-profit multimedia organization serving more than five million Canadians who are blind, partially sighted, deaf, hard of hearing, mobility or print restricted. Operating two broadcast services: AMI-audio and AMI-tv, and a website (AMI.ca), AMI's mission is to make accessible media for all Canadians.

SOURCE: Accessible Media Inc. (AMI)

Janis Davidson Pressick, Communications Manager
800-567-6755 ext. 0971, [email protected] 

Taylor Turner, Communications Coordinator                                
800-567-6755 ext. 0977, [email protected]​